Climate change threat to UNESCO sites

Statue of Liberty

Some of the world's most prized landmarks and monuments, including the Statue of Liberty and Tower of London, could disappear before our eyes in the next 2000 years if the climate continues to change at current rates, according to a new study.

The study calculated the temperatures at which the 720 UNESCO World Heritage Sites would be impacted by sea level rise, concluding that 136 are in danger if global average temperatures rise to 3 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial levels. That number is well within the range projected in the latest UN report on climate change, which projected that global average temperatures would rise by 0.3 to 4.8 degrees C by the end of the century.